Stephanie Garcia-Vause, AICP

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Professional Biography:

Stephanie Garcia-Vause serves as the City of Henderson’s Director of Community Development and Services ensuring high quality development and service standards, as well as progressive long-term city planning. She brings more than two decades of planning expertise and experience working to promote a vibrant, balanced, and cohesive city through the built-environment to her leadership post. Stephanie oversees numerous divisions including: Current and Long Range Planning, Building and Fire Safety, Development Services, Neighborhood Services as well as Code Enforcement.

Stephanie has participated in regional planning efforts in the Las Vegas Valley since 1997 when the legislature first created the Southern Nevada Strategic Planning Authority, the pre-cursor to today's Southern Nevada Regional Planning Coalition (SNRPC). The City of Henderson has provided staff support to the SNRPC on such notable projects as the Growth Summits (2003) and the Regional Open Space Plan (2007). She served as a Legislative Advocate representing the City during three legislative sessions, and has assisted in the City’s requests for Park, Trail and Natural Area funding as part of the Southern Nevada Public Lands Management Act (SNPLMA) since the program’s inception in 2001. Before joining the City of Henderson in 1994, she served as the Director of Planning for a real estate development company in Las Vegas.

Under her leadership, the City of Henderson competed for and secured a $3.5 million Sustainable Communities Grant which led to Southern Nevada’s first regional planning initiative, Southern Nevada Strong (SNS). Stephanie served as Project Director for SNS on behalf of the region and ultimately produced the first federally-recognized Regional Plan for sustainable development allowing all local municipalities to compete for funding never before available. Her efforts positioned Henderson as a leader in regional planning and increased the City’s economic competiveness as a region overall. The project has been recognized by numerous organizations for innovative planning techniques, a unique approach to sustainability, and unprecedented levels of public outreach including: the Las Vegas Business Press, Green Chips, and the Nevada Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA).

Stephanie is highly committed to both her craft and serving the community. She is a longtime member of both the APA as well as the American Institute of Certified Planners. She was recently named Professional Planner of the Year in 2015 by the Nevada Chapter of the APA and Public Administrator of the Year by the American Society for Public Administration Nevada Chapter. She was appointed by the Secretary of the Interior (2015) to serve a three-year term on the Mojave-Southern Great Basin Recreation Advisory Committee, where she currently serves as Vice Chair.

She has served on the Board of Directors for HopeLink of Southern Nevada, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Southern Nevada and her local homeowner’s association, all in addition to her leadership duties on her daughters’ Girl Scout Daisy Troop.

After receiving a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley, Stephanie went on to earn her master’s degree in Public Administration from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.